(a) whether the Government is considering to make commercial use of the
information available in villages;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) the number of States likely to be included in the first phase and the number of
projects likely to be implemented; and
(d) the nature of benefits likely to be gained by the villagers from these projects?
THE MINISTER OF PANCHAYATI RAJ ( SHRI MANI SHANKAR AIYAR )
(a) to (d):- The Govt. is launching an initiative for the creation of Rural Business Hubs
to draw upon local resource endowments and the felt needs of the people to give a fillip to
village enterprises that add value to existing economic activities in rural areas.
Under a joint initiative of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and the Confederation of
Indian Industry(CII), Uttaranchal, Kerala, Karnataka, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan,
West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Assam have been initially selected as focus states for the
purpose of facilitating the establishment of such Rural Business Hubs. Representatives from
the Ministry/CII have been assigned the responsibility of taking up the facilitation process in
the states concerned for Rural Business Hubs to be established in association with Panchayati
Raj Institutions. Local CII offices in the states concerned would be actively involved in the
facilitation at the State level. Models such as the Chinese Town and Village Enterprises and
the Thailand model of One Tambon One Product(OTOP) would be used as initial examples
for developing State specific models.